The Power of High Expectations - Teaching As Leadership

The Power of High Expectations
inner-city areas as they do for middle-class students.” 44 There were not significant differences in student
answers from various racial or demographic categories on that question.
As one of the students surveyed explained, “I think
they don’t take us seriously enough. We’re really
smarter than they think.” 45
IV. Conclusion: High Expectations for You
and Your Students
On one level, this chapter and the additional
readings have addressed on a grand scale some of
the social ills that contribute to the achievement
gap in this country. More importantly, however,
this chapter and these readings are about your
work in your classroom. As many corps members
have experienced before you, all of the statistics
comparing the achievement of different groups of
students have a mere fraction of the impact on you
that your students will. Very soon, when you are
the instructional leader of your classroom, the
achievement gap will become painfully real. You
will take on the responsibility for erasing it in the
lives of the students in your classroom.
We believe that we, as teachers, have the power to
overcome the achievement gap with our students.
And we believe the central tool in your most immediate control is high expectations. Our students, very
often, do not believe they can succeed. They do not believe that their hard work will lead to the academic
success that they readily admit that they want.
Thus, a key to success as a teacher of minority and low-income children is establishing and maintaining
high expectations for both your students and yourself. As we will discuss in the next chapter, this task is
unfortunately easier said than done.
Please again pause at this point and read the selection entitled “Racism, Discrimination, and
Expectations of Students’ Achievement”, which can be accessed by visiting the Pre-Institute Work page
on the Institute Info Center within TFANet. Also included on TFANet is the article “Equity Within Reach:
Insights from the Front Lines of America’s Achievement Gap,” which you may read for another viewpoint
of these issues. �
44 Ibid. p. 20.
45 Ibid. p. 21.
36
One of my resourced students, Arnetta, had a very
difficult time focusing in class. Anytime I tried to give her
personal attention, she always stated that I shouldn’t
waste my time because she wouldn’t understand it in the
end anyway. I expressed how painful it was for me to
hear her say things like that and often asked why she
uttered such words. Arnetta stated that she was just
repeating the words of adults before her who got
frustrated with helping her because it took her a longer
time to process the material. Arnetta had become
conditioned to sitting quietly while other students reaped
the benefits of individualized attention. She thought that
this was a norm and acceptable. I didn’t see a change in
Arnetta until I made it a point to circulate and stand by
Arnetta’s desk every day until she attempted and
succeeded with a question. After a while, Arnetta
became so happy with success that she would yell out,
“Hey Ms. Asiyanbi, when you going to make it to this side
of the classroom. I need some help.”
Susan Asiyanbi, New Jersey ‘01
Senior Vice President,
Teacher Preparation, Support, and Development
Teach For America